State of Texas: Biden, Trump make dueling border visits amid primary election

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Immigration is the top issue for many Texas voters this election year. As both parties look to gain ground in the debate, both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump made visits to the Texas border on Thursday.

Trump met with border patrol agents in Eagle Pass and was joined by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

“Texas is very secure and it’s going to be more secure because of what you’re doing,” Trump said.

The discussion between the former president and governor repeatedly criticized the Biden administration’s “failed open border policies.” Trump praised Abbott’s Operation Lone Star efforts to tighten the reigns on illegal immigration.

Meanwhile, Biden spent the day nearly 330 miles southeast in Brownsville, meeting with local leaders and border agents. Biden emphasized the need to pass bipartisan border security laws.

“We need to act. It’s time for the speakers and some of my Republican friends in Congress were blocking this bill to show a little spine,” Biden said. “Let’s remember who we work for, for God’s sake. We work for the American people.”

In a surprising moment, Biden called for Trump to work with him on the issue, just after Biden blamed the former president for causing a recent border bill to be rejected by Republicans in the Senate.

During State of Texas, we spoke to Sandra Sanchez from Nexstar’s Border Report, who followed Biden’s trip. She says the visit was impactful and symbolic.

“Law enforcement on the ground wanted Washington to understand that they need more resources,” Sanchez said. “This was an opportune time in history for Democrats. Republicans have owned this issue of immigration, they pointed out to the fact that Democrats have not solved this situation.”

“When the recent bipartisan border security bill failed to pass in the Senate, President Biden used this as a jumping off opportunity to come to the border, to say to House Speaker Mike Johnson, put this bill on the House floor.”

We also spoke to Joshua Blank, the research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, to understand how these visits may affect the upcoming elections.

According to Blank, Abbott’s border efforts have helped his approval rating climb to the highest it’s been in a year at 53%.

More and more Democrats are focusing on the border, too.

“Usually about two-thirds of Texas Republicans will say that immigration of the border is the most important issue facing the state. For Democrats, it’s usually about 2%. In this poll it was 14%,” Blank said. “This really puts it in contention with the other big Democratic issues.”

The dueling border visits came on the same day that a federal judge in Austin blocked a Texas law that aims to empower state and local law enforcement to arrest migrants who illegally cross the border.

The judge’s ruling said, in part, “a surge in immigration does not constitute an invasion.” That directly refutes Abbott’s justification for sending Texas troops and DPS to the border.

Senate Bill 4 was scheduled to take effect on March 5. Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an appeal shortly after the judge’s ruling.

Recovery begins in Panhandle amid devastation from record-setting wildfire

When the second-largest wildfire in American history barrels through your small Texas town, you either lose your home or help your neighbor pick up the ashes of their own. For some in the community of Canadian, Texas, mere feet – and a whole lot of luck – made all the difference.

High Plains communities, fire departments, agencies advise how to help first responders amid wildfires

“By the grace of God, our house is still standing,“ Canadian resident Casey Long said, whose next-door neighbors — a family of seven — lost everything. “It’s just gut-wrenching.”

An afterthought to turn on the backyard sprinklers saved his own family from sorting through rubble Wednesday morning.

“Sometimes we feel guilty. I don’t know why. It’s just like, why? Why? What happened?”

A wildfire scorching the Texas Panhandle has grown to the largest in state history

Skye Wilson wasn’t so lucky. On a somber tour through the ashes of her home, she pointed out the lost memories. Her leather business in a spare room, torched. Her seven-year-old’s bedroom, now part of the charred front yard. The family’s cash savings for a vacation to Alabama, up in smoke.

“It felt like a bad dream that I would just wake up from this morning,” Wilson said. “I looked at my best friend earlier, and she lost her house, and I was like, ‘Okay, what’s the next step?’ And then she said, ‘I don’t really know.’”

The Smokehouse Creek fire in the northeast Texas Panhandle was already a massive 200,000 acres on Tuesday afternoon when it sent Canadian residents scrambling for safety. Overnight, it more than quadrupled to the second-largest in Texas history at 850,000 acres. By Thursday, it grew again, topping more than 1 million acres, making it the largest wildfire in the state’s history.

As of Friday morning, two women were confirmed to have died due to the wildfires and two firefighters had been reported injured. At a news conference Friday, Abbott emphasized that officials still don’t have a full picture of the damage.

Abbott said a preliminary assessment indicated that the wildfires had destroyed up to 500 structures. He praised firefighters for saving lives across the Panhandle.

“The largest fire in the history of the state of Texas cut a path so large that it exceeds the size of some states in our country. And it would have been far worse and far more damaging not just to property but also to people but for those firefighters,” Abbott said.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller estimated cattle deaths to be in the thousands, with more likely to come.

Local officials are still assessing the full scope of damage, and even they weren’t spared from the wreckage. On Wednesday, after a long day and night of helping his neighbors weather the blaze, the county sheriff walked through the remains of his own house.

“I’ve got my truck and my camper, two pairs of jeans,” he said, the implication; that’s enough.

While many are left without their homes, few are in desperate need. Officials are not yet asking for specific donations, explaining the outpouring of support from across the entire state has been almost overwhelming.

The time will come for more charity and repair, but until then, people in Canadian take comfort in the fact that all of their loved ones are alive and well.

“It’s sickening. It just breaks your heart to look at all the devastation,” Long said. “A lot of people lost a lot. And it will rebound. It’ll bring everybody together. I think God’s gonna work in mysterious ways on this deal.”

Supreme Court grapples with Texas, Florida social media regulation laws

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering how the First Amendment protections apply to major tech companies in a lawsuit challenging similar Texas and Florida laws that restrict social media platforms’ ability to moderate content.

Texas passed House Bill 20 two years ago. It prohibits large social media companies from banning or suspending users because of their political or religious views. Companies must have at least 50 million users to be subject to these regulations. The law also prohibits companies from removing or denying “equal access or visibility” to content based on a user’s viewpoint.

While different, both laws were part of the states’ Republican-led efforts to address accusations that social media giants like Facebook, X and YouTube were left-leaning and silenced conservative voices. This argument came to a head after some social media sites banned Trump after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trade groups NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) are challenging Florida and Texas laws, saying that they have the right to moderate posts and accounts on their platforms under the First Amendment.

Constitutional free speech protections apply to actions by the government, not private entities and companies.

After signing the law into effect in 2021, Abbott said it was necessary since social media platforms are the new “public square.”

“They are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely — but there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas,” Abbott said. That is wrong, and we will not allow it in Texas.”

In nearly four hours of oral arguments, both conservative and liberal justices wrestled with how to answer these questions, expressing concern about free speech issues in regulating these companies, while acknowledging fears about the power of these tech giants.

“Why isn’t that, you know, a classic First Amendment violation for the state to come in and say, ‘We’re not going to allow you to enforce those sorts of restrictions?” asked Justice Elena Kagan.

Both laws are currently on pause due to lower court rulings. How the high court rules could lead to more legal battles in lower courts.

Cornyn announces run for GOP leader to succeed McConnell

Texas Sen. John Cornyn has informed his colleagues that he intends to run for Senate Republican leader, becoming the first senator to announce a campaign after Sen. Mitch McConnell said he will step down from the post in November.

Cornyn, who served as McConnell’s No. 2 in leadership before he was term-limited out of the job five years ago, is citing his experience in that role in a statement Thursday to fellow senators announcing his run. But he also is trying to distinguish himself from McConnell, saying, “I believe the Senate is broken — that is not news to anyone.”

“From experience, I have learned what works in the Senate and what does not,” Cornyn said. “And I am confident Senate Republicans can restore our institution to the essential role it serves in our constitutional republic.”

There has long been speculation that Cornyn, South Dakota Sen. John Thune and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso -– the “three Johns” -– would compete to replace McConnell, R-Ky., if and when McConnell were to step down. But the longtime leader’s surprise announcement on Wednesday that he won’t run again for Republican leader after the November elections has jump-started the campaign earlier than expected, almost nine months before GOP senators are expected to gather and choose a new leader behind closed doors.

Cornyn, a former Texas Attorney General who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, is a prominent member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a popular member of the GOP conference who is seen as a steady hand. He has managed to bridge some of the caucus’ deep divides in recent years while also occasionally negotiating with Democrats, as he did on bipartisan gun legislation in 2022.

He is also a prolific fundraiser for the party, having raised a total of $13 million for incumbents, the party’s Senate campaign arm, and Senate Republican nominees already in the 2024 cycle.

In his statement, Cornyn said he believes he has “built a track record of listening to colleagues and seeking consensus while leading the fight to stop bad policies that are harmful to our nation and the conservative cause.”

Cornyn said he would work to improve communication, try to move spending bills individually and make an effort to include every member in decisions. That’s a response to frequent complaints from some senators about massive year-end spending bills and McConnell’s top-down leadership approach.

Both Thune, the current No. 2 Republican, and Barrasso, the chairman of the Senate GOP conference, have left the door open to runs after McConnell’s announcement. Neither has officially announced a campaign for the job.

Thune told reporters Wednesday that McConnell’s departure leaves “big shoes to fill,” but that now is a time “to reflect on his service and honor him for that. And then we’ll we’ll go from there.” Barrasso said he planned to talk to fellow senators and listen to what they have to say about the “direction they want to take.”

Much of the race for leader is likely to take place in private over the next several months, through phone calls, one-on-one meetings and private gatherings. Unlike the House, where both parties vote for speaker in a public -– and recently messy -– spectacle, Senate party leadership is chosen in closed-door conference meetings by secret ballot. Cornyn was already making calls and reaching out to his fellow senators in the hours since McConnell’s announcement.

Republican senators haven’t chosen a new leader since 2007, when McConnell was elected. That was before most current GOP senators took office.

It is unclear which of the three “Johns” would have an advantage among their peers.

While Cornyn is well-liked and has drawn attention for his fundraising, Thune could have the advantage of incumbency, as McConnell’s current deputy. Barrasso has tracked furthest to the right of the three, becoming the first of them to endorse former President Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination.

Thune and Cornyn have criticized Trump in the past, especially since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump’s supporters. But each eventually endorsed him as it became more likely that he would be the party’s presidential nominee this year.

There are certain to be other candidates, as well, including from the wing of the party that is closest to Trump.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott challenged McConnell in 2022 at Trump’s urging, winning 10 votes, and he could run again. Scott has said he is focused on his own reelection bid this year but has appeared open to a run after that.

“I think there’s a better way to run the Senate,” Scott said after McConnell’s announcement. “So we’ll see what happens.”

The sudden scramble for the next leader comes as McConnell, 82, had faced louder and increasing criticism from some within his party who have said it is time for a change in leadership. They have criticized McConnell’s support for the huge end-of-year spending bills and, most recently, his outspoken backing for aid for Ukraine. A growing number in his conference has opposed the assistance, saying it would be better spent on the U.S.-Mexico border or elsewhere within the U.S.

The Republican leader was also at odds with Trump, whom he has said was “ practically and morally responsible ” for the Capitol attack. The two haven’t spoken since before then, and Trump frequently bashes him publicly.

McConnell acknowledged his critics in his Senate floor speech announcing that he would step down from that role.

“Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time,” McConnell said. “I have many faults, misunderstanding politics is not one of them.”

He also echoed his critics, calling for a “new generation” to take over.

In the hours after the announcement, as the surprise wore off, many senators praised McConnell’s legacy, including his role in the Senate confirmation of three conservative Supreme Court Justices who tilted the court to the right.

Others were more focused on the future.

“This is a good development,” said Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a frequent McConnell critic. “My question is: Why wait so long?”

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